loved, ergo alive
by 1147694
Summary: Belated Valentine-for-Hanakage posting. NarutoSasuke AU ficlet. Sasuke is quiet and Naruto is counting. HS fluff with flowers.


a/n: UMMMM no it's not love, shakespeare and nooo don't ask please. it's v-day fic don't kill me. copy/pasted from lj, but yanno. if i do not post this now i will forget.

Moar mediocre fluff, and very like the rooftop-birthday fic but intentionally. Also, for those who don't know, it's very common that a school sets up some sort of flower-delivering valentine's day-esque thing for fundraising.

A valentine for my valentine, my gorgeous-in-every-way **hanakage**, my lovely lea! :) ilysm dear. one day i'll write something fittingly magnificent for you.

* * *

loved, ergo alive

* * *

Sasuke is quiet and Naruto is counting and it's almost sunset on a mild February day.

"Fourteen, fifteen… sixteen. Sixteen. And the two pink ones." Naruto says triumphantly as he finishes. "That makes eighteen, bastard!"

"The moron can count; congratulations, idiot." Sasuke says dryly, settling himself against the fence of Naruto's backyard. He watches Naruto, who is sitting on the swing tied to the ancient sycamore branch maybe twenty feet above their heads (a little dark memory about pushing Naruto off that tree once when they were thirteen surfaces but Sasuke firmly pushes that away because _it isn't like that anymore_); with his peripheral vision he discreetly observes Naruto carefully sorting through the respectably-sized pile of carnations in his lap.

And then Naruto scowls at him for the _moron can count_ comment.

"I bet you thought that was funny." Naruto says discontentedly, and mutters, like Naruto always mutters, about why in heaven and earth would anyone want to put up with Sasuke and Sasuke's bastardly ways, and that perhaps the Catholic church should consider Naruto for sainthood one of these days. Sasuke distinctly hears the end of … "and I put up with his shit _all_ the goddamn time" but doesn't say anything, like Sasuke always doesn't say anything.

So Naruto resumes idly fiddling with his pile of carnations, and eventually the scowl meant for Sasuke softens into a small grin meant for… well, Sasuke doesn't know. Watching Naruto rearrange his carnations makes Sasuke feel like he should be doing something with his hands, too, and so Sasuke uselessly plucks a bit of the remaining grass of Naruto's yard, and fingers the lone green blade in his pale hands.

"Well, how many did you get?" There is something challenging, expectant, and yet resigned in that roughly-asked question, and Sasuke sighs inside, because Naruto has to ask every year.

"Eighty-four. Eighty-five. I don't know. Threw them all out after homeroom." Sasuke says carelessly, looking darkly at the little blade of grass between his fingers.

"Eighty - _holy shit_!" Naruto never ceases to be amazed at the numbers, but this year, Naruto finds he isn't as envious as last year and then he considers it. "Though I think that's about three less than last year?"

"That only means three were smart enough to realize it's impossible."

Naruto gives him a look, and there are a lot of things to contemplate in that look.

_It better be impossible.  
_  
"You're so…" It's hard to finish that sentence. Sasuke is a lot of things, but it's hard to concisely crunch all the qualities that Naruto knows (and loves? haha) into a single word. And then Naruto remembers something: "Oh hey, what about that one with the giant orange card? I sent that, you know!"

Like Sasuke doesn't know. "Like I said, I threw them all out after homeroom." (Like Sasuke is going to tell him that the little smushed carnation with the big orange card is actually sitting in the farthest corner of his book bag, waiting to be liberated when Sasuke got home.)

Naruto is a little disgruntled at the thought of the little carnation sitting in the homeroom waste basket, but then again, Sasuke does receive a miniature mountain of flora every year and it would be pretty simple for the little red carnation go unnoticed. And Sasuke doesn't need a flower or a card to _know_, the way Naruto doesn't need a flower or a card to know. (Though it might have been nice to get one from Sasuke. For a joke, even.)

A moment of silence meanders comfortably by.

Naruto continues to play with his eighteen carnations.

When Sasuke finally says: "I'm about to agree to a sunset walk. In which we may or may not get ramen and may or may not see a movie. And for the record, it was your idea."

The pained look is hilarious on Sasuke, and surprised, Naruto laughs uncontrollably, and the pained look intensifies tenfold. When he stops laughing, Naruto gets up from his swing (his respectably-sized pile of carnations falling soundlessly to the earth; having Sasuke means it doesn't matter how many flowers one gets in homeroom) to kiss his bastard soundly against the fence.


End file.
